A bad hire costs, on average, 1.5 to 2 times the annual salary.
Most people know this. And yet it keeps happening – over and over again.
I have worked in recruitment for over 25 years. The most common reason for a failed hire is not that the candidate lied on their CV. It is that the process was too rushed, too driven by gut feeling, or that there was not enough clarity about what was actually needed before it began.
Three mistakes I see repeatedly.
- Hiring for experience – not for potential and behavior. An impressive background guarantees nothing. What determines whether someone succeeds in your organization is how they function in your specific context. Culture, pace, leadership style, expectations. None of that shows up on a CV.
- Rushing the process. The position is vacant, the hiring manager is frustrated, and you go with whoever feels best among the three candidates you managed to meet. The pool was too narrow and gut feeling too unreliable as a sole basis for a decision.
- Skipping structured assessment. An interview is just a conversation if you do not know what you are looking for. Competency-based interviews, relevant personality tools, and clear evaluation criteria are not unnecessary complexity – they are quality assurance.
Bringing in outside help for a recruitment process is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign that you are taking the decision seriously.
If you have thoughts, questions, or simply want to talk something through – feel free to get in touch.
Magdalena Hagström Ståhl
By M Consulting AB
Right person. Right place. Everything changes.